A leader of Macedonia Baptist Church who has pushed for a memorial at a burial site near Bethesda’s Westbard neighborhood would like it to resemble a New York City memorial that is said to hold 15,000 skeletal remains of free African slaves who were buried during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Church members have been waiting for more than two years to acquire and memorialize land at 5204 River Road, which they believe contains the bodies of the church’s deceased members.
Members and others have pressed for a decision at meetings of the Housing Opportunities Commission, an agency responsible for acquiring and leasing affordable housing, which currently owns the site, and several have been arrested during protests.
The African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan opened in 2007, 16 years after the remains were discovered of free and enslaved Africans who worked in colonial New York between 1630 and 1795. The discovery occurred in 1991 during the excavation of the six-acre site for an office building.
The site consists of a circular granite memorial with a map of the world that shows the path of the slave trade. The memorial is adjacent to the Ted Weiss Federal Building, which contains a visitor center to the memorial on the first floor. The visitor center opened in 2010.
Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, the wife of the church’s pastor Segun Adebayo, said the idea is to create a similar concept for the church’s memorial, and hopes tourists visiting the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in the District of Columbia will also visit the future Bethesda memorial during their visit.
“We have the same vision [as New York and Washington]. That it will be a world-class attraction. That visitors will also come to Bethesda. But it will be part of the trail people will be able to follow from the Washington, D.C., history and culture museum to Bethesda,” she said.
Coleman-Adebayo said she met with County Executive Marc Elrich shortly after he was elected last November, as well as several members of his staff and two civil engineers, and took a tour of the Westwood Towers parking garage. Coleman-Adebayo said the church was “explicit” with Elrich about the type of memorial they wanted.
The HOC has said they are open allowing memorialization on the site once a meeting takes place between their agency, Elrich and the church.
Elrich, during an online question-and-answer session last week, said in response to a question about why no meeting had been convened, wrote that he was waiting for the church members to share information on an alternative entrance to the garage.
“I am now waiting to hear from them what they believe is possible, at what cost, so that I can then convene a meeting to discuss their proposal with HOC; I will also participate in that meeting. I strongly believe we must honor the people who are buried there, but I cannot in good conscience, make that building unavailable to residents who need that affordable housing. I look forward to further conversations and am hopeful we can resolve this concern,” he wrote.
In an email, Segun Adebayo wrote to Elrich, demanding an apology for the delay of a promise that he said was made seven months ago to resolve the impasse.
“For you to suggest that a proposed remedy to the garage access will “make that building unavailable to residents who need affordable housing” is ludicrous and you know it. Nothing intended or proposed by us would have hindered residents from accessing their dwelling,” Adebayo wrote.
“With respect to our visit to the Westwood Towers garage, the group consisted of yourself, your special assistant, Ms. Debbie Spielberg, Ms. Shauna Sorrells of HOC, Mr. Tim Willard of BACC, two civil engineers and I. The goal was to explore the space with a view to proposing sound and feasible engineering solutions to the access problem.”
Adebayo added he has repeatedly sent follow up emails to Elrich’s staff to meet with him, but have not received an answer.
In an interview, Adebayo said a cost of the project hasn’t been determined, and that an architect must make that determination. He said this likely won’t occur until after the meeting between Elrich, HOC and the church takes place.
Coleman-Adebayo said the engineers shared plans for an alternative entrance to the garage during their meeting several months ago.
“He [Elrich] was standing right there,” she said.
The pastor’s wife said the memorial must “take into account the soil and the diameter” of the site, which would be done by the architect.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
